Beautiful Ghosts
by MoonytheMarauder1
Summary: Seamus quickly becomes entranced by Lavender, but things aren't as they seem. Muggle/Modern!AU. Warnings inside.


**A/N: Hey y'all! This was written for Hogwarts. I ended up really liking this, so I want to make it longer one day XD M for creepiness obv not smut, because I'm me.**

**Word Count: 998**

**WARNINGS: Mentioned mental illness, implied asylum abuse, murder, character death (not graphic), dead bodies (not graphic), language**

**Thanks to Grace for beta'ing!**

**Enjoy!**

It was a stupid-ass thing to do, Seamus knew, but Dean _had_ dared him to enter the abandoned asylum. If it'd just been Dean watching, he might have refused… but Harry and Ron were watching.

Seamus had a reputation to uphold.

As it was, though, the place was creepy. The lights didn't work, so squinted against the darkness as he made his way through the hospital. Goosebumps erupted over his arms and the back of his neck, and Seamus wished that he'd thought to bring a coat.

The hallway seemed endless. Every door was either hanging off its hinges or missing entirely, the rooms pitch-black because the boarded-up windows refused the moonlight trying to stream through. Seamus didn't give them much of a glance; some instinct prevented him from looking too long, terrified of what he may see.

Figuring the dare would be more than fulfilled if he could make it to the end of the hallway, Seamus quickened his pace. Once he reached his destination, he turned, prepared to run back the way he'd come.

But his brown eyes caught on a weak beam of moonlight coming from the only room with its door still intact, and some primal urge had Seamus peeking in.

If he was expecting blood or amputated body parts, he was disappointed. There was a bed on one wall; otherwise the room was bare. Seamus stepped, emboldened by its normalcy, and surprised himself by kicking what looked to be an old torch. He bent down to pick it up, then switched it on. He raised the weak stream of light to get a better look at the room.

Only for it to land on a girl standing a meter away from him.

"_Fuck!_" Seamus nearly jumped out of his skin, stumbling backwards into the door—which was now closed. His heart fit to burst, he turned back to the girl, every horror movie he'd ever seen playing through his mind. This was his grisly end; he just knew it.

But the girl looked as terrified as he was.

After several moments, Seamus uncoiled. He ran a hand through his dark hair, shaken but otherwise okay. The girl had curled up against the bed in a ball, one piercing blue eye watching Seamus from under her arms. As a test, he lifted his arm; she flinched backwards.

She didn't seem like a threat.

"Sorry," Seamus began softly, but his voice was still loud in the silence. "I didn't know you were here." He shivered slightly, still clutching the torch. "When…" He licked his lips. "When did you get in here?"

The girl didn't lift her head, but she did speak. "I was here before you."

"Oh." Seamus swallowed. He wasn't at ease yet—how could he be, in such a horrific place?—but his initial panic was ebbing away. "I didn't see you outside."

Finally, the girl looked up. "You wouldn't have," she whispered.

Unsure how to take the statement, Seamus cleared his throat, taking in the girl's unnatural paleness and lank blond hair. It might've been vibrant once—there was a hint of curl to it, but it seemed to have been neglected for a long time. Some suspicion stirred the back of his mind, but then the girl smiled and all of Seamus' hesitation vanished.

"I'm Lavender," she said sweetly, her blue eyes fixed on him. She no longer appeared afraid. "I'm so glad you've come to join me."

He hadn't done any such thing, but Seamus grinned back, feeling a bit dazed. "I'm Seamus."

Lavender's smile widened, and she crossed the room to sit beside Seamus. "You won't go, will you?" She pointed to the torch clutched in his hands. "Sometimes others come, but they don't stay long."

Something about her words sparked something in his chest, and Seamus found himself nodding. "I can stay for a bit," he decided.

Lavender glowed, and suddenly, she looked beautiful.

* * *

The more time he spent with Lavender, the more he wanted to stay. The more he wanted to stay, the more he opened up to her. One day, he found himself kissing her.

Lavender was thrilled.

"You'll come back again, won't you?" she asked after he pulled away, a little pout on her face. "I get so lonely here without you."

On its own accord, Seamus' head dropped down to peck Lavender on the forehead. He wasn't startled by his actions; he was often dazed or sluggish in her presence, but he was always ridiculously happy.

_This_ made him ridiculously happy.

"Why don't I just stay here tonight?" he asked. "I like it better here, anyway."

Lavender reached out to squeeze his bicep excitedly, and Seamus knew he'd chosen correctly.

* * *

He didn't return home the next night.

Or the next.

Or the next.

He didn't return home ever again.

* * *

"They killed me here, you know," Lavender told him one night. They were lying on the bed, hands intertwined. "With their treatments. I wasn't even supposed to be here, I don't think. I heard voices, sometimes, but they weren't hurting anybody." She turned her blue-eyed gaze to Seamus, who was listening attentively. "You don't think I'm mad, do you?"

He shook his head. "'Course not. Did it hurt?"

Lavender's brow furrowed. "I don't know. Did it hurt when I killed you?"

Seamus laughed, but stopped when Lavender didn't smile. "You didn't kill me," he said, a bit surprised but unbothered by the fact.

Lavender sat up and pointed to the corner of the room. There, Seamus could make out two forms: one was skeletal, the other much more… fresh. And there was his own face, frozen in terror.

"You saw me," Lavender explained, pointing to the bones, "and flew back into the door. You hit your head. I felt so awful, but you were so nice to me when you woke back up." She paused. "People aren't, usually."

Seamus blinked at the bodies once more, then looked back at Lavender. "Don't worry," he told her. "It didn't hurt."


End file.
